Photo by Kate Cooper

Our friends Mary and Howie got married last week end in Sheffield. This wedding means so much for my husband and I as we first met through them. There is so much choice these days for your big day. And although they had 130 guests, they still wanted to have it all “custom made”. They chose the Woodland Discovery Centre in Ecclesall for the ceremony and the beautiful Whirlow Hall farm for the party. The wedding party took place in a huge barn, with haystacks and hanging bunting absolutely everywhere! It was rustic, layback, natural and incredibly romantic!

Decorated jam pots

The amazing thing about the barn was its size. Half of it was set up for dinner, with big tables covered with white tablecloths, lavender pots and little jam pot with baby’s breath flowers. The other half of the barn had the bar, the cake table, the BBQ and of course the band and the dance floor! The children even had a little play area delimited by haystacks, with tiny tables and chairs, lots of colouring books and balloons. They played and danced on the ceilidh tunes all night, being safe and contained, a real parent’s dream!

The barn was decorated the way they wanted, with miles of hand-made bunting done by the groom’s mum and the hens during the hen do. They could bring their own wine, choose their own food which was incredible! Beef and pork sausages, lamb and beef burgers, all locally produced on the farm.

They asked also for guests to bring cakes…so guess what…I had to make one!

Naked cakes are in fashion and I thought it would be appropriate to reflect the natural, layback theme of the wedding. A 3 tier wedding cake, made with light lemon sponge, infused with lemon verbena syrup from my garden, a mascarpone lemon cream and simply decorated with a braid of lavender and mini bunting to match the theme. The groom’s uncle also made a big cake, along with 15 other guests, so we can say there was no shortage of cakes!

Naked Wedding cake- Photo by Kate Cooper

The cake recipe can be found in my previous post here. Bear in mind this recipe is only for half of the middle tier. The bottom was made in a 30cm cake tin, and the top was in a 15cm tin. All ingredients were measured accordingly to the size of the tin.

It was so amazing to be able to contribute to their special day in a creative way. Another two couples of friends have asked me to make their wedding cake and I am super excited! Watch this space, I might start my own business one day! And for more pictures about the wedding and the full story on their engagement, wedding day and more, see the post on the blog of Brides Up North.